Smokehouse construction



March 6, 1934- L. BRAND SMOKEHOUSE CONSTRUCTION Filed July 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Leo Brand WITNESSES ATTORNEYS March 6, 1934. L. BRAND SMOKEHOUSE CONSTRUCTION Filed July 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 u fl M IL l INVENTOR L 60 Brand BY .ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to smoke houses employed for the smoking and curing of meats, and the present invention constitutes an improvement upon prior United States Letters Patents 1,524,533, 1,543,596, 1,554,906 and 1,704,650.

The present invention aims to generally improve upon and simplify the construction of smoke houses such as set forth in the prior patents above enumerated, and others which have been heretofore devised.

One of the outstanding objects of the present invention resides in a smoke house construction in which means is provided for coupling and driving the cage from the bottom while swivelly,

supporting the cage from its upper end from 'a carriage by virtue of which carriage, the cage is movable when uncoupled, into and out of the smoke house enclosure.

Another important feature of the invention 90 resides in the provision of a smoke house construction and cage driving mechanism by virtue of which a common motor is capable of driving a plurality of cage units arranged in a common plane.

35 As a further feature, the invention comprehends a smoke house construction in which the driving power transmitting means is located below to false bottom where it is housed and protected from the heat of the smoke generating unit and the sawdust or other smoke generating material.

The invention further contemplates a smoke house construction in which the various elements and parts thereof are arranged in such a manner as to be readily accessible for the purpose of in-- spection, repair, and lubrication.

The invention further embodies in a smoke house construction, an improved means for feeding the smoke generating material to the burner,

by virtue of which the necessity of opening the smoke house door is eliminated, and due to which feed, the draft is not eifected when replenishing the supply of smoke generating material.

Other objects of the invention reside in the comparative simplicity of construction for the smoke house, the economy with which the same may be installed and maintained in working condition, and the general eificiency derived therefrom.

With the above recited and other objects in view, reference is had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, while the claim defines the actual scope thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a smoke house constructed in accordance with the invention and illustrating the cage in coupled relation to the driving mechanism.

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the cage coupling.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the feed hopper spout taken approximately on the line indicated at 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a top plan view diagrammatically illustrating the manner in which a plurality of cages are driven by a common motor. 1

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, the smoke house includes a rear wall 10, a front wail 11, side walls 12, a bottom 13 and a top 14, all of which are constructed of any suitable material and are arranged to provide the main enclosure, the front wall 11 of which is provided with an opening or door-way 15, which is designed to be closed by a pair of hinged doors 16. The lower portion of the enclosure, from a point slightly below the lower edge of the door-way 15, is disposed below the level of the ground or floor line A. The enclosure has removably supported therein in approximately the same plane with the ground or floor line A, the grating sections 17 and 18, which prevent the meats from falling therebelow, and which provide a floor for supporting workmen who enter the smoke house for the purpose of effecting repairs, adjustments, lubrication or cleansing of the interior of the enclosure. One of the grating sections 18 may be provided with a removable portion 19 to provide a manhole when removed, whereby access may be gained to the burner compartment B without the necessity of removing the grating sections 1'7 and 18. A horizontally disposed partition or false bottom 20 is arranged within the enclosure and spaced above the bottom 13 thereof, and said partition or false bottom 20 is constructed of a suitable heat resisting material to receive thereon the sawdust, or other smoke generating substance, to be burned. This defines between the partition or false bottom 20, the bottom 13, and the rear, front and side walls 10, l1, and 12, a lower compartment C, which constitutes a housing for the purpose which will be hereinafter developed.

A pit D is formed immediately in front of that portion of the smoke house enclosure which lies between the partition 20 and the ground or floor level A, and said pit is covered at its upper end by a removable grating 21. The usual burners 22 are positioned above the partition or false bottom 20, and their intake pipes 23 extend through the front wall 11 and into the lower portion of the pit D, where they are provided with the individual cut-off valves 24 in advance of the manifold 25 which feeds the fuel to the burners. Adjacent the point where the feed pipes 23 extend through the front wall 11, draft openings 26 are formed and an adjustable damper plate 27 controls the draft openings.

In order to provide means for feeding the sawdust, or other smoke generating material, to the burner automatically, and Without the necessity of opening the smoke house enclosure door 16, a hopper 28 is located in the upper portion of the pit D, and has one or more feed spouts or nozzles 29 extending downwardly therefrom at an angle through the front wall 11 and terminating at a point adjacent the forward portion of the burners 22. The upper or mouth end of the hopper 28 is disposed in a convenient position adjacent the grating 21, whereby the bags of sawdust may be dumped into the hopper through the grating for gravitational feeding from the hopper through the discharge spout or nozzle 29, whereby it is preheated and gravitationally fed as it is consumed, through the lower end of the spout 29.

The upper portion of the enclosure defined by the top 14, and the rear, front and side walls 10, 11, and 12, above the grating sections 1'7 and 18, constitutes the cage receiving and smoking compartment E, within which the usual form of cage 30 is designed to be supported for rotation. In the present instance, the cage 30 is provided at its upper end with a suspension eye 31, which is engaged over a hook 32, swiveled as at 33, to a carriage 34. The carriage is provided with wheels which are designed to roll over a supporting track 36 which extends from within the upper portion of the enclosure or compartment E outwardly, said track being supported by hangers 37, depending from the top 14, and exterior hangers 38. It will be observed that the upper carriage wheel supporting edge of the track 36 between the hangers 37 is depressed or off-set downwardly as at 33 to cause the carriage to gravitationally roll to a predetermined centralized position, and to normally remain in said position against the accidental displacement until it is intentionally shifted therefrom to the higher portion of the wheel supporting edge of the track. It will thus be seen that the cage 30, when suspended from the carriage 34 and moved into the smoke house enclosure beyond the foremost hanger 37, will automatically move to the predetermined centralized position where it will remain suspended and swiveled for turnng movement.

The driving mechanism includes an electric motor F, 01' other equivalent prime mover, which may be suitably mounted in any convenient relation to the smoke house, but preferably as illustrated, above the same on a support 40. The motor shaft 41 extends transversely therefrom to a reducing gearing 42, from which the drive shaft 43 extends laterally beyond the side wall 12. The propelling or motive power of the drive shaft 43 may be transmitted in any desired manner to a counter shaft 44, extending transversely of and journaled for rotation in the lower compartment or housing C. As illustrated in the present instance, the drive shaft 43 is provided with a sprocket 45 and the counter shaft 44 with a sprocket 46, around which the sprocket chain 47 is trained. The sprockets and sprocket chain may be disposed exterior of the smoke house enclosure, as illustrated, or within the confines thereof, if desired, but are preferably exterior, as shown, in order to avoid leakage or escape of smoke from the smoking compartment. The counter shaft 44 is provided with a worm 48 which meshes with a worm wheel 49 secured to a vertical shaft 50, which is journaled in the step bearing 51 in the lower compartment or housing C, and said shaft extends upwardly through the false bottom or partition 20 and through the juncture of the grating sections 17 and 18 to a point slightly above said grating sections, and slightly below the lower end of the cage 30, where the shaft is formed with a coupling head 52. In order to protect the shaft 50 from the heat of the burners and to avoid the possibility of the sawdust, or other generating material, from gaining access to the lower compartment C, a sleeve 53 is secured to the false bottom or partition 20, and extends upwardly therefrom and receives therethrough said shaft 50.

The cage is coupled to the coupling head 52 of the shaft 50 by coupling member or brad 54, which is in the nature of an inverted U-shaped link, designed to straddle a cross rod 55, carried by the lower end of the cage, and to thence have its depending legs 56 engaged within notches or apertures 5'7 in the coupling head 52. This can be accomplished by reaching into the compartment E, through the doorway 15, and dropping the coupling member 54 over the cross rod 55. When the coupling has been effected, it is apparent that when the motor F is energized to drive the shaft 50, the cage 30 will be revolved from its lower end and will turn on its depending swiveled upper end support to accomplish the purpose in view. The depressed upper wheel bearing edge 38 of the track 36 operates to dispose the cross rod 55 in proper juxtaposition to the coupling head 52, so as to the facilitate the engagement of the coupling member legs in the apertures of the coupling head and maintain the cou-- pled arrangement.

Where the side of the smoke house having the sprocket chain is located adjacent the wall or another smoke house enclosure which would render access to the chain dimcult, the side wall 12 may be provided with a doorway normally closed by a door 61, hinged as at 62, to swing inwardly. In order to afford means for gaining access to the lower compartment or housing C for lubricating, repairing, or adjusting the drivlot columns and rows, as diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 6 of the drawings, wherein four cages, 30 30*, 30, and 30 are shown, and in which cages 30 and 30 are driven by worms 48 and 48 on a common transverse counter shaft 44 while cages 30 and 30' are driven by worms 48 and 48 on a common transverse shaft 44 The counter shafts 48 and 48 are driven from the drive shaft 43 and the single motor F. It is, of course, obvious that the the number of rows and columns of cages may be increased indefiits nitely according to the capacity of the smoke house plant to be erected.

While there has been illustrated and described a single and preferred form of the invention, this is not intended as a limitation upon the scope of the invention as it is to be understood that variations and modifications which properly 7 come within the terms of the claim, may be resorted to when desired.

What is claimed is:

A smoke house including a smoking compartment, a. cage for supporting articles to be tured head.

LEO 

